Prehistoric World
by 4fireking
Summary: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel back in time to the age of the dinosaurs? Ian Stag wondered that his entire life. One day he finds a fossil in his back yard and it is brought back into a dinosaur. There are one hundred dubious dinosaurs in the prehistoric world. How many will Ian encounter - real breathing dinosaurs?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Dinosaur King

**Ian's POV **

Did you ever notice how every child in the world at some point are enthused with dinosaurs? And it's not just the kids. Most adults are intrigued by the dinosaur facts. If you ask me dinosaurs are a major part of our world history. Even though we never really understood them, or why or how they're extinct, the fact that walking with dinosaurs must have been an amazing feat. Most people study these giant lizards. I too study them, but not as a profession. I'm not a licensed palaeontologist. You're supposed to go to school and study what you want to be so your parents don't waste their money on your education. My parents wanted me to be a lawyer when I was young, so I never had the education I wanted. I never wanted to be a lawyer. My parents are just insane. So what am I doing now? I'm making funnel cakes.

Life as a janitor is a job that never challenges me, except physically. There's no career opportunities from it and I make as much money in two years as my parents would make in a week at their jobs, and I have to work longer than them. So why did I take part as a janitor— it was because I love the museum. I originally wanted to be a night watch men, but I don't like being in places at night. And I need to have at least nine hours of sleep each day. So I took part as a janitor. The curator, Mr. Canary, is nice. He is a kind sixty year old man with three kids. His oldest daughter is married to an accountant, her second oldest daughter is running her own business. I asked Mr. Canary what kind of business his daughter ran, and he replied " it's none of your business." And his younger son was a ski instructor.

One day while I was reading a book asking who Bill Clinton's favorite dinosaur was, Mr. Canary approached me with a card.

" For you," he said.

" What is it?" I asked.

" It's an invitation to my brothers birthday party. I expect you to join me, Ian?"

" Why me, sir?"

" I just thought you might enjoy a free meal and have a chance to meet important people."

" Like a mixer? Are you trying to set me up on a date, curator?"

" Ian…if I set you up with someone it wouldn't be true love. I'm giving you this because I need someone to accompany me. My brother's birthday parties can be a real bore. I'm frigate from the last party I went to. It's why I need someone to listen to the boring speeches while I try to spend ss much time with my brother as I can."

" You want me to be your wing man, curator?"

" In a way I do. It's not like I'm not going to pay you. Did I mention you will be giving free meals?"

" I would be honored to accompany you, curator? I just have one question."

" Uh, what is that?"

" Do they have any dogs in their homes?"

" Do you hate dogs?"

" No. I love dogs. They are like miniature dinosaurs but not as carnivorous or wild as them."

" They do have one dog. His name is Chewy. He's the sweetest dog in the whole wide world. How can you not love that dog? But since there are so many guests Chewy will be outside and I'll need you inside to back me up."

" Isn't there any chance I can play with the dog, curator?"

" Well, if we're the last guests to leave that's when Dianna will let Chewy in."

" Who's Dianna?"

" My brother's wife. He has a son who had back surgery so don't shake his hang. And don't hug him."

" I'm not going to hug him, sir? I hardly know him."

" Just don't come into contact with him. He got that injury playing rugby. I heard he's quite the rugby player. So is his brother Shawn I heard. And be careful with his daughter Shannon. She can be very mean to people sometimes."

" Okay. Is there anything else you want me to know, curator?

" Yes. I'll need you to sign his birthday card. He's turning fifty so I bought him a Thing 1 and Thing 1 saying you're Thing 50, but you still have the charisma. So I'll stop by your house on Saturday."

" Saturday. Got it."

" And Ian."

" Yes."

" You still have five minutes on your lunch break."

" Thank you, sir."

XXX

I have a very poor place to live. I'm not a very tidy person. I have empty cans of soup in my living room, loads of dirty shirts in my hamper, and spaghetti on the floor. I'm a very messy person. I'm not use to living alone. It's my fault. No one else's fault, but mine. If I can't do something it's no one's fault but mine. Although, it's not my fault I can't afford ice. I looked like a complete mess. I was smelly because I haven't showered in days, didn't have any high collared shirts, and didn't own a belt. I guess you could say I'm lucky. Lucky that a loser like me could even find a job.

Dinosaurs never had to worry about how they smelled. All dinosaurs can track the scent of another dinosaur from the scent. When dinosaurs hunt they had to hide their scent behind trees or with strong smells. If we traveled one hundred million years ago we would be greeted by colossal animals with horns on their heads, beaks on their noses, and flying beasts bigger than hounds. Dinosaurs lived and evolved for over 160 million years until they became extinct. Some say they became extinct because an asteroid over 9 miles wide hit the Earth in the Gulf of Mexico. No one knows what really caused them to go extinct. A Nigersaurus may have been responsible for the dinosaur extinction. The largest dinosaur I read about was the Giganotosaurus. And unlike in Jurassic Park, there was no evidence that the dilophosaurus could spit venomous mucus.

I heard a honking sound outside. Could it be him? It was only eleven o' clock A.M. Another idea is the dinosaurs were frozen before the ice age and when they thawed they died. I walked out the door and saw the curator standing beside a cab. He actually ordered a cab? I guess a person could do anthing when they have so much money.

: Let's go," Mr. Canary hollered to me. " I don't want to be late."

I was so not dressed to be going to some rich persons party. But I couldn't excuse an invitation from Mr. Canary. I walked down the stairs wearing nothing but my pyjamas and walked into the cab. We drove away from my apartment and away we went to the party.

" You look like a ten year old boy," Canary said. He was mad at me. I could tell he was mad that I looked like a complete slob.

" I'm sorry, sir," I said as we drove away. " I tried to order a tuxedo, but there was nothing I could afford—"

" Relax. I knewn something like this would happen so I came prepared."

" You did?Where?"

" In the trunk. In my trunk there's a briefcase with a change of clothes for you. I asked the driver to park next to the drive through so you can change when we stop."

" Thank you, sir."

" Don't thank me. Just don't try to embarrass me when we get to the party. And remember not to touch the dog until the party is over or you'll get fur over your coat."

" Yes, sir."

It was a half an hour drive from my apartment to the party. I wonder why the curator didn't just bring his own car to the party. It would be an easier and less expensive way to get there. Maybe the curator just didn't have a car. Not everyone wants to get behind the well of a car—drunk drive into innocent people. I learned that people who try to follow drunk drivers are the most likely to get into an accident. Would there be any beer in this party.. My mouse salivated thinking about it.

I pulled out a pencil and a notepad from my pyjamas. Not only did I like to study dinosaurs, but I liked to draw them. My earlier work of a triceratops looked like a dog with three horns. I wasn't a very good artist before, but I practised a lot. In time I could draw dinosaur pictures so good I could put them in comic books or manga's. I use to spend a lot of time in my room before I went to college. My parents would fight all the time and it was unbearable to just stand there and listen to them—the only thing that kept me going was thinking one day I would change the world. I would dream sometimes that I was an old man who wrote books about people walking with dinosaurs. I never cared about the money, as imaginary as it was, just that I could be a respected palaeontologist. But not all dreams are meant to come true.

We arrived at the birthday party. Since it was April there was some snow left on the grass but none on the driveway. The driveway wasn't as full as I thought it would be. Then I saw the garage. It was big. Their house was three stories high with gargoyles aligned on the ledge. It seemed too big for a man with only three kids. I could hear the sound of barking coming from the front door. It was Chewy.

"Change here." My boss paid the taxi driver an extra five dollars to let me change. It was a very nice tuxedo. I wasn't going to let anything spill on it. As soon as the cab drove away Mr. Canary grabbed my hand. " You don't have to impress anyone if you can't eat with your mouse closed. A wise man once said you're only as good as your last meal."

" Was the person who said that an important man?"

" No. He was a beleaguering New Yorker."

Have you ever had the feeling you didn't want to be somewhere? Like being a Tyrannosaurus being a meal for a Spinosaurus. All these people were Compsognathus and their carnage. But instead of dino meat they were serving swish chess, cupcakes with swirl icing, Nanaimo bars, a vegetable/fruit trays, and little hog dogs with pastry around them. They were already lining up around a table and putting food on their plates.

One man benignly let me cut through him to help myself to a plate. The women were wizen. Their faces looked like the leather handbags they carried. Except for one woman. She had the face of a corn farmer with sun-dried hair. She had sun glasses over her eyes, a green jacket over her pink sweater. Her eyes were green.

" Ian." It was Mr. Canary. He was around two other men with hair as white as a Cryolophosaurus White Dinosaur. My plate was full with two hot dog thingies, broccoli, cupcake, and watermelon slices. I'm what the dinosaurs call a omnivore. I eat meat and vegetables, but they don't have any meat in this house. " This nice man has just been explaining to me the human ingenuity. Would you excuse us?"

Mr. Canary dragged me away from the old men. What was he going to tell me—I hope he wasn't mad because I did something wrong. If I did something wrong I would like to know what it was.

" I don't give a crap about anything these people say. Half of them aren't even related to me. They're just the parents and siblings of my brother's wife. I grow tired of having to deal with people and their stupid problems, which is why I want to retire. When I do retire, I want you to be the new curator of the museum."


	2. Chapter 2

Ian had certain rights. He had the right to say "no" if his boss asked him something he didn't feel comfortable with. He had the right for privacy, that no one could open his mail. Money was so tight Ian was thinking of getting a roommate to share the costs with. And he had the right of self-decision. Ian was downstairs, the Man Cave of Mr. Sparrow's brother, one giant screen TV, two more closed rooms he wasn't allowed to look at, and a pool table with a rack attached to the wall lined with cuesticks. Ian was using a PDA to look at pictures of dinosaurs.

Ian was baffled. Why would Mr. Canary think Ian was a good choice to take care of his museum? He wasn't old. Mr. Sparrow was only fifty or sixty years old. If you said someone was old at that age, you could turn up missing. Ian had his moment with Chewy. When Mr. Canary's brother heard the dog yelping outside he walked outside to comfort the dog, that's when Ian walked outside with him and hugged the dog. Chewy was very affectionate, which was because he was a young dog. Ian rubbed Chewy's fluffy back, than pulled on his ears, the dog acted like it was going to lick Ian but didn't. Than a man wearing fleece-lined boats walked into the house.

Ian was shivering. It was really cold outside. It felt like Fall even though the season was Summer. Ian envied the pet leopard gecko the Canary's kept in a cage. A fact about dinosaurs. Early dinosaurs were all rather small, ornithopods, fleet-footed plant-eaters. And there were two distinct groups of dinosaurs, the saurischian dinosaurs and the ornithischian dinosaurs. The saurischian dinosaurs were dinosaurs were the tall dinosaurs that ate plants and meat and the ornithischian's were the dinosaurs that were small and ate only plants. Ian wondered about there X and Y chromosomes.

Ian walked back inside. He walked up to a man with brown waspy hair and tapped his shoulder lightly. This man was bespectacled, wore a blue-white polka-dotted bowtie, and had what looked like red mold growing in his right lip.

" Excuse me," Ian said as politely as he could. " Where does Mrs. Canary keep the soda?"

" Don't be drinking pop," the man said, his voice was waspish from his cold sore. " We'll be having dinner soon." After he finished talking he took out a folded piece of paper towel from his pockets and rubbed it against his sore spot. After rubbing it against his chin he threw the piece of paper towel in the trash.

Before Ian went down to dinner he asked Mrs. Canary where the bathroom was and washed her hands. Ian knew there were rules if you wanted to wash your hands in someone's house. First, you had to know the person before you ask them that question and you can't be there all day because their are other people waiting. If you just walked into some strangers house and ask them to use their bathroom. Ian's hands were under the table, where he had his napkin. Ian wasn't allowed to eat until Mr. Canary, the curator,

" We thank thee Lord for all the blessings you bestowed on us, all the blessings you've given us, we're all thankful to you, amen."

" Amen."

It was finally time to eat. All the meat was well cooked. There was lamb, baked potatoes, potato salad, and sushi. Ian didn't know what kind of family gave sushi with lamb, but it was a birthday party. The birthday boy could have whatever he wanted for his birthday. Ian heard the sound of someone padding silently down the stairs. He turned around and saw the owner of the house Mr. Canary walking to his sweat. He wore a woolen jumper and kissed the back of his wife's hand as he sat down.

" Impeccable timing as always," Ian's boss chuckled.

" Mr. and Mrs. Canary," Ian said. " Forgive me if I sound a little presumptuous, but where did you two meet?"

" Ah, it was in college," Mr. Canary said. Ian wished they weren't sitting down, because he wanted to write this down on his parcel. " Dianna and I knew each other since first grade, but we were only friends back then. I was the smart one who liked things people thought was weird. My favorite things to do were to read and have afternoon naps. Dianna was the strong girl who pushed bullies away. She liked to throw her wait around. Dianna and I both just went through two break-ups. Then we both got drunk and slept in a hotel. I remember the rummaging drum of rain outside. Neither of us wanted to go so we waited until the rain drained."

" He was scared," Dianna giggled. " Mark here has a fear of thunder. " There wasn't a fringe of white clouds outside. So we slept in the half-light of dawn until the rain stopped, but we still didn't want to leave. Mark wanted two kids and I wanted two kids."

" So you pended this to happen?"

" I don't want to bore everyone with my brother's love life," the curator said. " We're just glad Mark is alive and still as healthy as a horse."

" That's not true," Ian said. " Horses only live or thirty years."

" Then he's as healthy as a young calf. I'm just happy he is old enough to be retired. In just twenty years he won't have to work again. Insurance will pay for his medical bills and he can swim all he wants. It's a glorious time we live in. We have white wine, internet, and more opportunities for men and women in the job career."

" Mommy, mommy," a five year old boy, his hair tumbled over his forehead. " I see a bird. A bird."

A man wearing a black jacket, the boy's father, rubbed his sons hair. " Yes, Cashel, that's called a sparrow."

" What is it?" Cashel asked.

" A sparrow, son."

" What is it?" Cashel asked.

" A sparrow."

Ian wondered where the son was seeing a sparrow in the middle of the dinner table. He saw a window with a nest on the periphery side of a tree branch. The father did not yell at his son nor did he tell him to be quiet. The father just kissed the mole on his neck and rubbed his son's head.

" Ian."

Ian winced in surprise. The curator grabbed his elbows and it frightened Ian. Ian instinctively raised his elbows and hit the curator in his face. Ian hit the curator in his nasal. Ian got out of his chair and raised his hands.

" I'm so sorry," he said.

The curator was old but he wasn't weak. His choice of diet and time at the gym made him strong. Ian saw him as a Dryptosaurus. Dinosaur lizards had the blood of crocodiles. On cold days their muscles worked better than warm days. It seemed the curator has this kind of blood.

" It's okay. Really, I'm fine. But I would like to speak to you in private."

XXX

Ian didn't know what he did wrong. He talked to everyone in Mr. Canary's family and even said nice things to all of them. Ian didn't eat anything before dinner and never went to the bathroom or took a shower in their house. Why would Mr. Canary want to fire him**—** to hire another janitor, for some comment Ian made that might have offended his family**— **Ian just couldn't think of a reason.

Ian was quiet. Mr. Canary was holding a black suitcase. A number-bar lock was installed on the briefcase. " Do you know what the greatest thing an archeologist can discover, Ian?" Mr. Canary asked.

" I-I don't know," Ian stuttered, he was still afraid he was going to hit the can.

" Anything. Anything a archeologist discovers, form the itty-bites of an arrowhead, to a Canopic jars, The Lost Tribes of Israel, and of course fossils. We live in a dystopian of superannuation and low class presidents. Kids don't care about the museum anymore. They care more about arcade games and proms. Everyone in my linage is already living decent lives. Except for you, Ian. Here."

Ian finally got to see what Mr. Canary was holding. It was the most beautiful thing Ian had ever seen. It was a fossil vertebrate. Ian saw fish fossils, claw fossils, and plant fossils. Never before had Ian seen a fossil that looked like an egg.

" Is this...for me?"

" No. I wanted to show it to you to show you how much more money I make for you, idiot**—**of course it's for you. I want you to take this home with you."

" Really?"

" It's yours now."

" Thank you. It's nice that you would take it from the museum to give it to me."

" I didn't take it from the museum."

" What?"

" I found it in my backyard."


	3. Chapter 3

Ian was antsy to get back home. He wanted to know when his boss would stop drinking. It seemed like he had more beer in his hair than sloshing in his mouth. His boss was so drunk he walked up to Ian and grabbed his right shoulder.

" Do you see this boy here. I love this boy. He's the greatest janitor I've ever had. And I would be proud to have him as my prodigy. He knows everything about our museum and knows every fossil. He's like a son to me."

Ian was annoyed by his bosses attitude. He wasn't always this hyped up. It seemed like the only way his boss could handle being alone with his brother was to be drunk. Ian wished someone would push his boss away from him. Mrs. Canary walked up to her brother in law and took Ian away from him.

" In case Canary ever fires you try going to a nursery home. It gives you a chance to find full time employment. Thank you for coming to our home. I hope you have a safe ride home."

Ian walked outside. He found the dog Chewie lying on the ground. It got up and jumped on Ian. Ian embraced Chewie rubbing the back of the dog's head. He also rubbed the dog's neck. It was so happy with Ian it rubbed it's nose against his nose.

" Your a good doggy. If I ever have a dog I want him to be just like you."

The dog rubbed its nose against Ian's pockets. He found Ian's fossil. The dog took it from Ian's pocket and Ian tried to grab the fossil from the dog. Ian was frazzled from all the talking and listening he had to do so his arms were a little limp. He almost grabbed the fossil, but Chewie dropped it. The fossil shattered when it hit the floor.

" _Oh no_," Ian thought. " _Mr. Canary is going to kill me." _

The fossil was barely cracked. Just a small crevice on the tip. But there was something inside the fossil. It wasn't anything like a fossil. It was shiny and glowing. " What's this, boy?" Ian picked the item out of the fossil. It was hard to look at it because he was tired and it was sparkly. Ian recognized it only as a card. A baseball card? A poker card? It was neither. It looked like a dinosaur. A Archaeopteryx flying from the peak of a mountain. " _What the heck is this doing inside a fossil?" _

_" _I get it." Ian wondered where that voice was coming from. Ian followed the voice and found a boy working on someone's engine. " This is where the cylinder is. And the piston is here."

" Excuse me." The boy freaked out. He was wiry that someone spotted him. " What are you doing to that engine?"

" I'm working on my machinery testing," the boy said. " If I'm going to be an engineer I have to work on the practical stuff and not just what's in the textbooks."

" Whatever you're doing I think you should put that car back together. The misses and mister of this house won't like it if they see a total stranger on their lawn—weren't you one of the people at the party?"

" Yes. My name is Heath. And this car here is mine. I'm just making sure the engine doesn't die down when I'm on the road, you know."

" How do you know Mr. and Mrs. Canary?"

" My father delivers cars from different countries. Or he just imports parts to different countries. The Canary's ordered parts and he brought them to the Canary's."

" So you know a lot about car parts? What do you think is the most efficient car part?"

" The muffler. It exhausts the exhaust noise so the car won't be as loud as other cars."

" Is that really the best part of a car?"

" No. It may not make the car move or gets it to run but it helps when you need time to think."

" Don't be stingy. Give me some more beer." Mr. Canary finally walked out of his brothers house, but with his brother pushing him out . Mr. Canary was too drunk to know what to do.

" You've had enough. Time to go home, big brother." He moved his brother to the road. His brother waved his arms around. " A cab will be here soon to pick you up." Mr. Canary walked up to Heath and Ian. He shook Ian's hand. " Once again thank you for coming to our house. I hope it isn't wrong for me to say this but don't ever come to this house without my brother. Good-bye."

" Okay. Good-bye Mr. Canary. Good-bye Heath."

" Take care."

XXX

Mr. Canary and Ian were driving home. The cab showed up, Ian and Mr. Canary went into the back, and the cab driver drove them towards home. Mr. Canary was still drunk.

" That was the best night I had in weeks. Was it fun for you too, Ian?"

" I guess," Ian said.

" I guess? Is that really all you can say? Won't you say something different about it?"

" What do you expect me to say? That it was the greatest moment of my life?"

" Only if it's true. Your life will dwindle if you keep everything out and isolate yourself from civilization you will die lonely."

" It was the greatest moment of my life."

" Thank you. Maybe I'll invite you for next years party."

Ian noticed a black car following them. It was moving up left of them. It was moving up to the cab. Ian wondered why it was moving so fast. The car slammed to the left side. The car spun out of control. The car slammed again into the cab. The third time they went off of the road and crashed.

Ian was barely conscious. His arms were cut by sharp glass. Ian saw the cab driver with a large piece of glass in his head. He saw Mr. Canary hanging from his seat, unconscious, his seat belt keeping him from falling. Ian was only conscious enough to see men in black suits. They came and stole Ian's fossil.

XXX

Ian wake up in the hospital. He was on morphine. He felt no pain. His jaw was wired shut. His legs were broken. Ian was not alone. He sees Heath sitting in a chair reading a Times Magazine. Ian wondered how Heath found him, but was glad he did. Ian never liked being alone. Ian feels something in his right pocket. He reached into his right pocket and pulls out the dinosaur card. It was safe.

Those men were obviously looking for this card. But what was so special about this card. Besides it's colorful picture of a dinosaur it seemed completely normal. But if those men took the fossil looking for the card and found out the fossil didn't have the card they would come back for him.

XXX

In a dark room the four suits were handing a man the fossil. The person they were handing it too was very pallid crime lord. He would do anything to rule the world.

" We found the fossil just like you ask us too. We looked through it just like you asked but we couldn't find the card."

The suits give the man the fossil. They expected him to say something encouraging to them. Instead he broke the fossil against his chair. " It's worth nothing." he said brusquely

" Oh come on!" One of the suits shouted. " This wack job has been asking us to look for fossils for two months. He has us going all over the world and he won't even tell us his plan**—**if he even has a plan. He's ancient. He's a living fossil."

" I have been patient with you four idiots. I can be the good boss you've always wanted, but if you want me to be a bad boss I can be the bad boss." The suit heard a loud sound of an animal gnashing it's teeth together. The shadow creature leaped out of the shadows and grabbed him. The rest of the suits tried not to listen to the harrowing sound of their comrade dying. " Any more questions?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys. I know I left you loyal readers on a cliff hanger from that last chapter. Say what you want about action films, but without them we wouldn't have anything fun to look at and we would use guns instead of our fists. This story doesn't have a lot of action in it. Mostly because I am trying to build up the characters before doing something like having a dinosaur push another dinosaur through a tree. This chapter doesn't have a lot of action, but at least it's going somewhere from the last chapter. If you read this chapter please review. It's only fair to review after you've read my chapters. **

XXX

Ian woke up waving his arms around like a lunatic. Ian shot up from his bed and breathed heavily, experiencing a nightmare. He dreamed he was underwater, but he wasn't alone. He dreamed something was kicking him, and suddenly, it had him in his mouth and shook him violently.

Ian hadn't slept for two days since he left the hospital. His life had been a wreck since Mr. Canary's death. Not only was Mr. Canary the nicest man whom Ian worked with, but Ian had no job. There was just no job willing to accept him. Ian thought about going back to college so he could have a higher chance of landing a job.

Ian sat in silence for a while, occasionally wiggling his toes. Ian stepped out of bed and splashed hot water in his face. " Hot!" He screamed as the water burned his eyes.

Ian switched the water from hot to cold. He splashed his face with cold water. The water helped him feel calm and relaxed. Ian walked to his laptop searching for any new jobs that might be requesting his help. No experience, no requisites, every job Ian tried applying for ended with a No in every sentence. Ian slouched in depression as no job was willing to hire him.

What kept Ian going wasn't finding a job, or finding the criminals who killed his boss, it was his new pet. Ian called him Skull because he had a little white mark on his head that looked like one. Ian's pet really looked like a green feather chicken, instead of a beak it had tiny but sharp teeth in its mouth. The bipedal chicken with longer wings and a red X shaped scar on his tail liked to pretend it was a dog jumping up and down and making loud yelping sounds if Ian didn't pay attention to it.

" Coooa!"

That was the sound his pet made when it was time to feed it. Ian could only feed it meat. He went to the store and bought two whole raw chickens to feed to the little scamp when it was hungry. Ian wouldn't normally keep a pet because he never really wanted one; however, this animal he had to keep him safe, inside his house, and away from people, because it was an archaeopteryx. It was a living dinosaur.

How did Ian find a pet that was extinct since the Mesozoic Era? Skull, the archaeopteryx, he was a card when Ian found him. He was just a card left on the windowsill until wind came in through the window and Skull appeared. The first time Ian laid eyes on Skull he thought the dinosaur would eat him. Skull stared at him in the bed, hid under the bed when the doctor and nurses came in. Skull had a very playful side to him; Ian asked for a rubber chicken and the dinosaur kept biting it like a dog until the toy exploded.

Ian knew Skull didn't belong here...trapped in his apartment all day and all night eating store bought food like some house cat. A dinosaur was no one's pet, had to be treated as a wild animal. It needed to run, fly, eat food that is alive before being dead if it is a carnivore and eat an entire parks' worth of vegetables in a day. Skull should be in a museum or lab being used to discover how it was still roaming the earth, but Ian couldn't hand Skull over to them. Not when he grown so attached to him.

" Skull, finish your food so we can go for a walk."

Ian used to be afraid of Skull since archaeopteryx are carnivores but Skull has never tried to bite Ian once since he kept him as a pet, which wasn't fair to him. Ian even got so comfortable around Skull he could pet his head. Ian pet the lizard and bird like dinosaur before putting a plastic bag over his head.

" I am sorry. You have to pretend you're a dog who can't show his face."

Ian opened the door and walked out pulling Skull on a leash. This was actually a win win situation for Ian. Skull got to have his long walk so he couldn't be so pent up with energy on the way home and Ian got to search for any openings in jobs that might hire him.

Ian thought about becoming a magazine writer or an advertisement executive. When his dad was young he did advertisements to get money. Ian just really needed money, begging people for money on the streets would be the same as being homeless, and Ian still had a home.

Ian asked people on the street if they knew any stores with a help wanted sign on the door. Everyone's attention were distracted from Ian's question and asked about his covert people in the paper bag. Ian used the same lie and told them it was just nervous out of the house, which people actually believed. Some of them even gave them numbers for their veterinarian's and dog beauty parlors. The sad thing was none of them knew a place he could work.

" There are a lot of companies that are temporarily hiring employees," Ian said not giving up hope. " Maybe we can ask about an employment agencies."

Ian continued walking through the street thinking of some employment that might be looking for him until Skull came to a halt. The boxed dinosaur sniffed the air than snorted from his nose.

" What is it boy? Are you having trouble breathing?" Ian looked around to make sure there wasn't someone watching them—and when he saw no one else around—he removed the box covering Skull's head. The dinosaur sniffed the air as an unfamiliar smell touched his nostrils. " What is it, boy?"

The dinosaur opened its little mouth full of tiny razor sharp teeth and ripped the plastic off its body. Ian couldn't stop the dinosaur…it ripped through the plastic. Ian tried pulling on his collar, but the dinosaur escaped and ran through the street.

Ian followed the dinosaur through the street. It was fast but it was still running on land rather than fly anywhere. Ian was so close to the dinosaur he could almost grab his leash, but he scampered into an alleyway before Ian could grab him. Ian followed the dinosaur through there. He could smell rotten fish. A cat was sitting in the alley with the bones of a fish and it's still meat covered head. The cat's hair stood up when it saw Ian so it scattered from the alleyway.

" Skull, come back!"

A limo pulled up from the alleyway Skull almost ran out of. When Skull reached the alleyway the windows pulled up and Skull jumped in the windows.

" You look too ugly to be in baby form," a voice said inside the window. " This can't be your full form. You are so small."

Ian smashed his hands into the windows. He punched the windows trying to break the glass and free Skull. His smashing annoyed the person in the backseat, made her wish she could just vaporize him with a space gun if they existed, vice versa.

The person in the back finally rolled down her windows. Ian, who was madder than his father when he got bad grades, froze when he realized the person in the back was a girl and a pretty one too. Her hair was short brown with bangs beside her amber eyes. She was dressed in a black suit with a yellow tie, and wore running shoes.

" Can I help you?" She mumbled.

Ian couldn't remember why he was so angry. All his anger just seemed to leave him. Was this what they called love at first encounter? Ian had a hard time speaking to pretty girls. Suddenly his friend Skull jumped out of the limo and sank its talons in Ian's back. It hurt, but Ian could handle Skull's little pain.

" Are you okay, Skull?" Ian asked. Ian was now bubbling in pain remembering how the woman tried to steal his pet.

" Get in," the woman told Ian.

" I don't trust you," Ian retorted. " My mother told me never get in a car with strangers, even if it's a limo and the person asking me is a pretty girl." Ian grabbed his mouth realizing he let the pretty part slip. " _Way to go, doofus." _

" I said get in. Nigel."

Ian didn't know a man was behind him until a black hand covered his mouth and furiously jabbed a syringe in his neck. Ian was feeling very tired…like the world was turning upside down and everything was scorched. Those were the last things he thought…Ian was raised above a strong man's arm and Skull was picked up by the back like a cat. Nigel threw both Ian and Skull in the back with the mysterious woman.

" Thank you, Nigel. You can return to your original duty."

" Yes, princess."

The tall and dark man Nigel put a chauffeur's cap on his head. It turns out Nigel wasn't a goon but a limo driver. All the street camera's that were now turned off turned on again. These two weren't ordinary kidnappers…the president, his wife, and many people that had authority over this city…they were on equal terms with them. They knew the safety of this city, the world rested in their hands.

XXX

Skull remembered his life when dinosaurs walked the world and there was no such thing as a human…at least there wasn't any humans until the day he turned from a real dinosaur into a card.

Skull was looking for food away from his other archaeopteryx. Skull never found anything to give to his other archaeopteryx because all the food supply was taken away. When he returned he found his herd gone and their food completely vanished. Skull without any food was completely weak and vulnerable. One word came to the archaeopteryx mind when he saw a bipedal being staring down at him…

Trap.

Ian woke up feeling like he just got out of a fight. He reacted rubbing his head recovering from his head swirling around in circles. He sounded like a lunatic groaning out loud, for a pretty brown haired girl was sitting in the car in front of him. On a dog drop a quadruped lizard with a black head and white body was lying down and staring at Ian.

" I don't know what to say…" Ian said looking at the girl and her four-legged friend. " I never got picked up by a girl before. Can you stop the car? Skull and I really need to get out."

" You are Ian Stag?" The voice didn't come from the girl, but it came from the little black and white creature sitting next to her. " You have recently acquired a dinosaur. We understand that you are having a little bit of money troubles. We can help you out."

" That thing is talking!" Ian shouted pointing at the lizard.

" Her name is Peace. She is a Iguanodon. Let's forget about her and get to the point. You have a dinosaur with you."

Ian looked at Skull fast asleep on the seats. He didn't know what was going on or he simply didn't care, past experience told Ian not to touch Skull when he is sleeping otherwise he would bite him.

" Skull's not a dinosaur," Ian lied. " He's a new kind of animal breed. Yes, they bred a chicken and a lizard together to make him…"

" Do you think I am an idiot?" She said coldly. Ian covered his eyes in fear. " My fiancée is a very important collector and researcher. He knows every kind of animal in this world, and he knows every animal whose breed has perished."

Ian didn't know what she was saying, but she took out a small yellow handbook. She skimmed through the pages murmuring every animal she saw… "Archaeopteryx: small teeth, long bony tail, wings, reduced fingers, said to be the first bird. This early creation is a small meat eating predator who lived in the Jurassic period and was discovered by J.A. Gauthier after looking over 100 characteristics of birds and dinosaurs, a combination of feathers and reptilian aviation."

" What are you going to do to us?" Ian said wondering if he had to fight this girl to get out of the limo.

" I would say nothing. The Archaeopteryx lived in the dinosaur era, but it is more a bird than an actual fighting thing. Unless you discovered something with the Archaeopteryx, such as, let's say, a Move Card."

" What's a Move Card?"

" You don't know what a move card is? Than why did I find THIS in your jacket pocket?" The lady took out a card with three wind swirls in a triangular formation. Ian didn't know he had something like that in his pocket…where did it come from?

" W-wh-what are you going to do to me?"

" We are just going to ask you a few more questions…see if you have what it takes to join our team. Max is going to love you."


	5. Chapter 5

What part of this whole situation was them "asking" him a few questions. Just a few minutes after meeting him the princess and the limo driver drove away with him and talked about taking him somewhere far away from his home town. They didn't put restraints like wires or handcuffs on him, but they locked the doors so he couldn't jump out of the car.

Ian was confident he wasn't being held hostage. Ian knew when there was a hostage situation and he knew how this girl and her limo driver couldn't be kidnappers. The first part was their vehicle. Kidnappers usually drive in a van, but he was driving in a limo. Either this kidnapper was selling him as a slave or this was just a weird way to pick him up. Two, the kidnapper's stopped by a police station on the way. What kidnappers take people and go to the police? Ian assumed this was a new way of blackmailing the police, parking outside and showing them he was kidnapped, the police walked up giving something to the woman and they drove away from the station. The police officer even waved good-bye. It was the most awkward thing Ian ever saw.

Whether this was a kidnapping or not Ian was scared. Skull was their prisoner. While driving on the road they stopped at a gas station and the limo driver Nigel took Skull and carried him to the front. Everyone probably thought Skull was an annoying little dog on the way out. No one could see Skull, exiting the gas station, all anyone could see was Nigel's giant back. He was the exact description of Butler from Artemis Fowl. Ian missed his home, he missed his old job, he missed not being a prisoner to the new age Lizzie Borden and her gigantic guard dog.

" What kind of place is this?!" Ian heard the woman yelling from the inside. What person managing the counter was in for the biggest argument of his or her life. " You don't have chicken and salad. It's a simple cold dish that comes with one dressing. What do you have with salad?"

" Burrito's !" The cashier yelled instead of answered. He was under a lot of stress. Who could blame him, Ian only knew this woman for one day and already he wanted to never see her again. The cashier was most likely gritting his teeth in hat, " Comes with a hash brown patty!"

She wouldn't stop complaining to the cashier. It wasn't his fault the gas station didn't have salad, so she should just shut her mouth and get on with it. The louder she screamed the more Skull seemed to cry. Ian wish he could pick up Skull and tell him everything is fine. Ian heard something from the Iguanodon.

" If princess is so desperate for good I can transform into my full form and destroy that store. Nothing should make my master angry."

" That won't work," Nigel said rubbing his index finger on Skull's head. " You can only get bigger when your master rubs your card against your element stone. Since master is not here you cannot get any bigger."

Skull snapped his mouth up biting Nigel. Nigel fooled Skull into thinking he ripped off his thumb, Skull shaking his mouth and mashes his teeth to rip out the thumb, Nigel wiggled his five fingers perfectly attached to his hand. It was Skull's unconsciousness; he sees something he thinks is there but really isn't.

" Your dinosaur is pretty stupid," Peace said bashfully. " And you named it Skull. A perfect name for his microscopic brain."

" How can you talk?" Ian asked.

" My master, who is the soon to be wife of the most brilliant and richest millionaire—"

" Billionaire," Nigel interrupted, correcting Peace and her mistake. " Max is really a billionaire. A millionaire is really not that important anymore. We spent two years teaching you how to talk properly in our world the least you can do is get it right."

" The master implanted metal parts in my body that give me the ability to speak clearly and learn. I am smarter than the raptors in Jurassic Park and I don't need a very special cereal to make myself like this. As far as your concerned I am the most prestige dinosaur ever born."

" I have so many questions to ask you!" Ian shouted like an excited boy before Christmas. " Is it true that dinosaurs lived one hundred and eighty-five million years?"

" I don't know," Peace's reply to Ian's question.

" I heard dinosaurs and birds are alike. The Velocirapter is one case. Is it true its legs fold up like a bird and arm and tail make wings when it strikes to kill."

" I never saw a Velocirapter."

" Were Utahraptors the same as the Velocirapter's or are they from a different family?"

" Have no clue."

" How did you really become extinct? It is said a meteor caused seismic waves that broke through the earth's continent's and they became smaller continents. Were you swallowed up in magma? Did you just lose all your food from extreme heat? Did your species foresee the end coming? Was their anything that could stop your mysterious death? "

" I don't know, I was sleeping when it happened. You ask a lot of questions about monsters that took over your world. Aren't you just happy we died and your species got to live?"

Ian was getting nowhere with this dinosaur. She was lazy and a little spoiled. The princess miraculously walked out of the limo. She was holding two bags. One had chips and a few soda cans, ginger ale and Coca-Cola, the other had burrito wraps and bottled water. The princess had an angry and grumpy look on her face. It was Nigel's opinion she didn't get along well with the cashier.

" Open the door, Nigel. Please!" She hesitated before saying "please". After opening the door for her the princess threw one bag in the back to Ian. She took out the burrito and gave it to Nigel. The bottle of water she kept for herself removing the tap and pouring it in her moth. " Ewww! It tastes like someone spat in this water!" Nigel opened the window for her, she turned the bottle upside down and poured the water into the ground.

" Do you want me to get bigger so I can crush that shop?"

" Not now. Not when we are clustered in this limo. You don't need to crush his store anyways. I'm sending a blog to all my listeners to never shop from here again."

" But what if they need gas, princess?"

" I'll ask Max to build a gas station next door. People will go to that gas station, that mean owner of the shop will be shut down, and we'll get more money."

" Princess you cannot ask your husband to give you money just so you can ruin someone you don't like store."

" Why not? He already helped me shut down a Burger King for not having enough parking space and a dry cleaners for shrinking my favorite shirt. Another thing. I pay money to give you food, Ian Stag, why are you refusing to eat the food I paid for you?"

" I'm not very hungry," Ian said. He couldn't eat anything in this limo.

" Starve for all I care. I was being nice to you."

Ian could ignore this woman. Woman have been mean to him for as long as he can remember. No girl wanted to sit beside Ian, wanted to be in a group with Ian, the female teachers didn't even want to teach Ian. This princess who believed she was above the law was no different from all the girls who made fun of him.

Nigel drove away from the gas station, the princess yelling how much she hated it on the way out. When were they going to stop? Ian wanted to escape. He couldn't escape at the gas station because Peace was watching him and would alert them he was escaping. Not to mention people were around. Ian could have called out to them for help, but what if they were carrying a gun? The police officers already ignored his cries for help in the last town what if more people were working for them?

The road trip went on for five hours. Five hours Ian kept his mouth shut and stared out the window with Nigel and the princess...her name is Skye. It sounds like Sky, but has an 'e' at the end. Ian found out that name because Nigel asked her a question. " Do we need for a bathroom break, malady?" was Nigel's question driving through the road. Their car almost swerved off the road, Skye poked two fingers in Nigel's forehead.

" My bladder business is none of your business!" She yelled.

Ian could still hear Skull's voice calling out for him like he was his mother. It was like a scared cat being thrown into the rain and trying to claw his way back inside. The more Ian tried to ignore Skull's voice the more his voice seemed to call out to him. Skull wanted to be free. He was Bango, the circus bear who wanted to join his fellow bears back in the forest. Ian shared Skull's desire to be free; the doors were locked and Peace was still watching him like a hawk. Freedom twitched through Ian like an itch. He had to be free...had to be free.

" We have arrived." Nigel took a left turn down a rocky path. It was nothing but small rocks and dirt near a forest. It was easy for someone's car to make a wrong turn and end up trapped in the mud. After that their shoes would get dirty and their feet would be blistered trying to get back to the nearest place with a phone. And the road was bumpy. If Ian wasn't wearing his seatbelt he would fly off the seat and hit his head on the car roof.

" Home sweet home," Skye muttered as Nigel took a left turn in the dirt road. Ian looked out the window saw Skye's bright big house surrounded by long circle of flowing water. On top of the house Ian saw a big mansion. It had a giant microscope thing sticking out the side of the house and the roof was covered in solar panels. It looked like a scientists house, but the design was pink and there was a horse stable outside.

Nigel stopped at the front of the house. Skye was the first to step out. Nigel walked out next opening the door to an and Peace. Ian thought Nigel would grab his arm and drag him to the entrance of the mansion. It was then Nigel picked up Peace and carried her to the mansion. Ian found his chance. He ran out the car sprinting as fast as he could to the front seat. Skull was still locked in the front seat, clawing and screeching for Ian to let him out, when Ian was captured by the maids. What type of maids were these? They caught Ian like they were androids with metal legs and raised him like they had biomechanical arms.

" Put me down!" Ian shouted struggling to get out. " I said put me down!"

" Let him go." The maids listened to what someone else said. Ian quickly spun around to look at the one who told them to let him go. He could tell just from first glance he was Skye's fiancée. He was wearing a red coat with golden buttons and brown sneakers. He had small brown eyes and brown hair with a tennis cap. Two horns were sticking out his hat, that looked like triceratops horns. " Hello there." The man said waving his arm. Everything was weird and awkward between them. " You must be Ian. Skye's phoned me about you. Please come in. I have the maids make a big dinner for you."

This was another trick. He was only acting like he was friendly so Ian would think he could trust him. Ian couldn't trust him. He was responsible for him being here. He took him away from his home and his butler zapped him with a tazer. Ian was very upset, but only because he had nothing to eat but chips and pop for five hours. Some fresh cooked breakfast was nice.


	6. Chapter 6

There was no escape for Ian. Everywhere he looks he sees maids by every window. His instincts told him they were put there to do more than greet people who walked in. Ian feels anger and sadness from the fact he can't do anything to get away.

Sighing heavily, Ian is unaware of the eyes on the ceiling or the surveilance in the walls.

They take him to a room with a giant microscope and a lot of books around the microscope.

" I thought you were taking me to the dinner room. Why are we in your observatory?" Ian asked very frustrated with the current events he could not fathom.

" This is my dining room. I spend a lot of time reading here. It's how I keep up with my dad in dinosaur knowledge." Ian backed away slightly to the door. He hit something brunched up against his back. He turned around and saw Nigel the butler standing behind him. Ian walked in silence as in thinking to himself and then sitting in a big comfy chair; wondering if they would cleave him in half or not. " This is a perfect place to talk." The man said resting his arms on the chair. "It doesn't deprive you of any knowledge you need to talk. Just grade a book, read, and tell me what you want to say."

" I'll pass." Ian taps his feet together thinking about this house and every person he met. " Why have you kidnapped me? I don't have any money. I live in a cheap apartment building and don't even have a job. I'm a nobody."

" You're not a nobody, Ian. Because there's no such thing as a nobody. There's always a somebody and that somebody is here because I need that somebody's help."

" You said somebody three times."

" Dinosaurs. How much do you know about them?"

" I know a lot of things in fact. I know that a Spinosaurus body has its spines grow 1.55 Metres or 1.65 Metres. I know that a Spinosaurus spends time on four legs instead of a T. Rex. What the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Spinosaurus had in common was sometimes the would shake its food before eating it just like a Spinosaurus does. I know the holes of a dinosaur can show where it's jaws, mouth, and nostrils were and that dinosaurs are relative to birds. I know Jurassic Park couldn't have cloned dinosaurs from blood in a mosquito because Mosquitos pass unwanted liquid away to make room for new liquids."

The man was stunned with his knowledge. "Where did you go to school?"

" I'm sorry. It's just I'm a bit of a dinosaur nerd. When I was growing up I was bullied a lot and didn't know what to do. My mother read Tyrone the Horrible to me every Sunday until I was twelve to show me how dinosaurs were picked back then as well. But when dinosaurs of a different breed got close to each other it was only because they wanted to eat the other. But you probably know so much more about dinosaurs than me. Why am I here?"

Nigel shows up with a strange game looking device with triceratops horns. He shows it to Ian. It was an LED device with a card slot in it. What type of game was it for? Black Jack?

" Allow me to tell you my semantics. As you know there's hundreds to almost a thousand dinosaurs discovered by man and talked about. I'll start by telling you I used to have a dinosaur just like you. His name was Chomp and he was one of my best friends. Unfortunately Chomp didn't belong in my timeline. He had to be sent back to Prehistoric times. After he left I tried to be the kid my friend Rex was in my life. I studied harder, tried harder in sports, and just got to be the top dinosaur researcher; I worked as an Archeologist and found so many bones. Dinosaurs aren't like animals in the zoo. You don't want them to stay hidden in the wild. What you want is to have a dinosaur bone in your bedroom. Dinosaurs are extinct but not in the way nature intended them to be. Now dinosaurs have breed to advance their race. My friend Rex from the future and the Alpha Gang worked on keeping dinosaurs safe from extinction. They transformed the dinosaurs into cards so they could carry them into the future. Rex and his family did it because they love dinosaurs while all the Alpha Gang carried about was ruling the dinosaurs as a king."

" What happened to your friend, his family, and the Alpha Gang?"

" They were stuck in this time years ago. Six years ago I was a little kid who loved dinosaurs but didn't know I could help them. Then the day came when dinosaurs revealed to be here and we were just trying to collect them to stop the Alpha Gang from using them for evil. We beat Seth, the true mastermind of the Alpha Gang, and turned the Alpha Gang into good guys. My next adventure was fighting space pirates with battle armor on the dinosaurs. We won that fight and Rex left with all the dinosaurs for a final good-bye."

" So everything went well? You guys ended up being victorious and stopped evil pirates from taking over the world. Talk about a job well done. Why do you need my help?"

" It's the future. In the future Rex grew up and became the mayor. I always knew Rex would do something great in his life but a mayor is big even for him. I was still in high school and started dating Skye. One day Rex showed up and told me all the dinosaurs wee taken by an organized group. For the first time I went to the future with Rex and Zoey and helped Rex save all the dinosaurs. Then this group of people who looked like thugs in the mafia came and shined light from purple crystals on the dinosaurs. The next thing I knew the cards were gone. I didn't get it. We were taken prisoner by those men. For two years they did nothing but tell us how worthless we are and feed us when we look hungry. Two years later they let us out for no reason and even let me use the time machine that brought me back to my time."

" Do you think they let you go because they put some kind of tracking devices in your brains to find out where the rest of the dinosaur cards went? Maybe they gave one of you some kind of mind-controlling drug that would make you kill one of your own friends."

" I don't think anything like that happened. I'm completely fine in fact. But it did seem strange that they would just let us leave after keeping us as hostages for two years."

Ian thought of many reasons as to why they would just let them go. It would be they were sadists who just happened to pick him up and watch him squirm. They could be dinosaur hybrids. So many reasons and none of them were true.

" When we walked out the future had changed. Dinosaurs were there. Only the carnivores. In the future there wasn't much grass for them to feed off of. Chomp the triceratops and Zoey's dinosaur Paris the parasaurolophus were eaten by the carnivores. The only dinosaur to arrive was Ace the Carnotaurus. I never even got to say goodbye to Chomp."

" That can't be true. In the future...dinosaurs take over the world? That can't be true."

" It is true. If nothing happens there won't be anything left but bones and no humans. It will be like the world has restarted to the age of dinosaurs. Rex sent me back to the past before his family went to the future. We warned them not to go to the future because the dinosaurs would rule it. Little did we know it was all part of an evil man who reversed the situation by ordering his men to surround us and take away all our dinosaur cards. In a last minute chance to save the future Zoey used the move card Metal Wing to summon Pteranodon's to fly the card capsule into the air and activate it's emergency switch to send all the cards all over the world. After a bit of searching we found Chomp's card. The problem was it wasn't Chomp that came out. It was a triceratops that looked like Chomp but had no memory of me. These dinosaurs are not the same as the one's we hunted when we were twelve years old."

" Wait." Ian stopped him to back his train of thought." You mean to tell me you, at the age of twelve, a time where most kids would have parents who would keep their kids out of harm, let you go around the world to fight dinosaurs with dinosaurs?"

" With the help of my dad," he said simply. " Rex's Dad Professor Owen told us that capsule was used to keep extra dinosaurs. One's that the Alpha Gang couldn't get their hands on after telling him their nefarious plan of being Dinosaur King. He said the dinosaurs can be trained like pets in their small forms, but should be avoided when their big. Eventually we found Iguanodon. Now we're trying to collect all the dinosaur cards, however number of cards there may be, and keep them away from the bad man."

" That's a very fascinating explanation. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen what Skull and that fossil my boss gave me. You guys are trying to save the world. I get that. What I don't understand is one thing."

" What's that?"

" Why do you need me? If all you need is to make sure the dinosaurs are safe why don't you keep Skull? Skull's a friend, but he's not a pet. If there's going to be a battle I want him to be here instead of in my apartment."

" You can't make a dinosaur do something after it's made a bond. You are the only one Skull will listen to. And there's something you need to know; dinosaur. For the last three weeks a giant beast was spotted in Jericho. They don't know what it is, but so far it has done nothing to hurt or scare the locals. If you'll follow my fiancee she'll take you to our tech expert."

" What type of tech is he going to give me?"

" Tech that will make your dinosaur grow."


End file.
